So I encountered this while sitting in the library killing time (they clean my room on Thursday mornings, so I spend them in the library). Apparently, the English language is about to hit 1,000,000 words! Go us! My hopes are that 'noob' will become the newest member of the family, as I rather enjoy that (for those not in the know, a 'noob' is someone who is new to a particular community, generally an online community; it is a common term in online games like World of Warcraft; and if you did not know that, you were yourself a 'noob' until just now).
In other news, my review boards are next week. As I'm not working on my next chapter just yet because of the boards, I spent much of the morning here reading the chapter draft I submitted for the board. I found a few typos, and one completely whacked out sentence that I somehow missed before (though I actually think I must have made some edits and not finished, as my supervisor didn't point out that sentence in her assessment of the draft, and she always points out awkwardly worded senteces). But I feel good about this chapter overall, I think I did a good job on it. So here's hoping.
In a recent email conversation with my friend Nathan, I told him that I had about 22,000 words written, and sent him a copy of one of my chapter drafts. He was amazed, apparently, to see that I had over a hundred citations, and a three page Works Cited section. 'Did you read all of these books?', he asked. 'Of course I did,' I responded. 'What did you think I've been doing here for nine months?' His reply: 'I thought you were going out to the pub every night.' So Nathan thinks I'm an alcoholic.
Ah, the weekly fire alarm test in the library just went off. It's the most obnoxious fire alarm, except for the one in my flat, which seems to enjoy going off whilst I'm sleeping or in the shower.
I'm going to go find food and head back to my flat to work on my latest National Geographic project.
-stephen
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Thursday, 30 April 2009
It's Springtime for Stephen in Scotland!
And it's really nice here. Trees are blooming (I'm still not used to that; living 21 years in one of the biggest evergreen forests in the world puts trees that bloom and loose leaves and boom again strange creatures, in my mind), the weather is no longer grey and drizzly (still grey, just not as drizzly) and a bit warmer, but still with plenty of lovely breezes. It's awesome.
The past few days have been pretty awesome, too. Went to a club on the weekend, ran into some friends, and had a good time all around then. I was supposed to go to a barbeque on Wednesday, but it got rained out, so we just went bowling instead (for, like, 4 hours...my legs are still sore from it...I won, though). And then we went out to play pool that night (I lost...my friend Tom's a damn good pool player). To prepare for the possibility of a barbeque and the surity of bowling, I finished my National Geographic project, and I was already done with all the stuff to turn in for my boards, so I had nothing to do. I went and saw Wolverine at the second showing of the day with a couple friends, and now I'm sitting in the library updating my blog, filling in key things in my diary, and pissing the people around me who are studying hard off as I'm about to start watching a movie. I rule.
After the movie I was hanging out with one of my Scottish friends, who kept doing double takes at me when I would say things. Apparently I've started slipping into a passable Scottish accent (Glaswegian, not Edinburghan, which I knew, I can't sound like the locals here at all yet) without realizing it. So go me. Assimilation, here I come.
In other news, I think the swine flu hysteria is overblown. Not that I don't think there's risk of some bad stuff happening from a super strain of the flu, just that I don't think this qualifies, and I know for a fact that the media is not reporting basic facts that would calm people down. For example: the WHO has only confirmed seven deaths from swine flu; regular flu kills approximately 36,000 people in the US every year, and between 250,000 and 500,000 world wide, so even if this new stuff had killed 150+ people, that's nothing compared to the regular kind; WHO 'Level 5 Pandemic warning' means nothing except that the virus has passed from human to human in at least two countries (in this case, in many instances in Mexico, and in one instance in Spain); the reason swine flu has become so widespread in Mexico is that the country does not have the infrastructure or health care system to deal with something like this (the girl who died in the US was actually a Mexican child who had been brought to Texas to seek treatment), while in other countries that do have health care and infrastructure there have been no deaths...I could go on and on. I won't, though, as that gets old.
Anyway, I'm meeting with my supervisor today to discuss my draft of chapter three, and I have my review boards scheduled for 14 May at 11:15.
I'm going to go watch that movie, now. Woo!
The past few days have been pretty awesome, too. Went to a club on the weekend, ran into some friends, and had a good time all around then. I was supposed to go to a barbeque on Wednesday, but it got rained out, so we just went bowling instead (for, like, 4 hours...my legs are still sore from it...I won, though). And then we went out to play pool that night (I lost...my friend Tom's a damn good pool player). To prepare for the possibility of a barbeque and the surity of bowling, I finished my National Geographic project, and I was already done with all the stuff to turn in for my boards, so I had nothing to do. I went and saw Wolverine at the second showing of the day with a couple friends, and now I'm sitting in the library updating my blog, filling in key things in my diary, and pissing the people around me who are studying hard off as I'm about to start watching a movie. I rule.
After the movie I was hanging out with one of my Scottish friends, who kept doing double takes at me when I would say things. Apparently I've started slipping into a passable Scottish accent (Glaswegian, not Edinburghan, which I knew, I can't sound like the locals here at all yet) without realizing it. So go me. Assimilation, here I come.
In other news, I think the swine flu hysteria is overblown. Not that I don't think there's risk of some bad stuff happening from a super strain of the flu, just that I don't think this qualifies, and I know for a fact that the media is not reporting basic facts that would calm people down. For example: the WHO has only confirmed seven deaths from swine flu; regular flu kills approximately 36,000 people in the US every year, and between 250,000 and 500,000 world wide, so even if this new stuff had killed 150+ people, that's nothing compared to the regular kind; WHO 'Level 5 Pandemic warning' means nothing except that the virus has passed from human to human in at least two countries (in this case, in many instances in Mexico, and in one instance in Spain); the reason swine flu has become so widespread in Mexico is that the country does not have the infrastructure or health care system to deal with something like this (the girl who died in the US was actually a Mexican child who had been brought to Texas to seek treatment), while in other countries that do have health care and infrastructure there have been no deaths...I could go on and on. I won't, though, as that gets old.
Anyway, I'm meeting with my supervisor today to discuss my draft of chapter three, and I have my review boards scheduled for 14 May at 11:15.
I'm going to go watch that movie, now. Woo!
Thursday, 19 February 2009
From the Depths of the Haunted Library....
Well, okay, I don't know if it's actually haunted. But this used to be a church, which implies that people were burried beneath here at one point, and that's where the stacks are, one two subterranean levels, and thus where I have to go everytime I want to get a book or a journal article, and it's creepy!
The library is quite nice, though. If you missed it, here it is again:
Yup, that's where I am right now. The white thing in the bottom corner there is one of the book stealing sensors, and from there you go down a short flight of stairs to the main floor, and I am just to the right of those stairs right now (though I can't see them, as they're blocked by a large shelf of books).
I normally can't work in the library, as it's too...restrictive. I like to be able to stop and go as I please, to cough loudly, to sing along with whatever is playing, to watch DVDs or iTunes shows...I can't do that stuff in here, people get angry. However, Thursday mornings my room gets cleaned by University staff (yes, they clean my room...I'm not sure why, I have two theories: 1) they use it as an opportunity to make sure we aren't burning candles or using hotplates and things like that; 2) by so doing they can justify charging us more for our accomodation. It's probably a combination of the two...), and so I can't be in there. I could just go to the kitchen on my floor, or the lounge downstairs, but there's no internet in the kitchen, and I never thought of going to the lounge until just now, so I come to the library. It's also a good chance for me to get books or articles that I've come across in my reading, so I'll keep doing it. Besides, it's probably good if I'm seen to be working at the school sometimes, rather than be working unseen in my room constantly. This way, I at least put out the image that I'm working hard, right?
Right.
------
I was very impressed by this. Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States of America, commenting on issues of race before the Justice Department. I think he's right, absolutely right. Only by communicating are we ever going to move beyond, but right now everyone is too scared to communicate, lest they be labelled a racist. I quote an email from a friend, in which he writes:
'Here's a preview of this new dialouge:
The library is quite nice, though. If you missed it, here it is again:
Yup, that's where I am right now. The white thing in the bottom corner there is one of the book stealing sensors, and from there you go down a short flight of stairs to the main floor, and I am just to the right of those stairs right now (though I can't see them, as they're blocked by a large shelf of books).I normally can't work in the library, as it's too...restrictive. I like to be able to stop and go as I please, to cough loudly, to sing along with whatever is playing, to watch DVDs or iTunes shows...I can't do that stuff in here, people get angry. However, Thursday mornings my room gets cleaned by University staff (yes, they clean my room...I'm not sure why, I have two theories: 1) they use it as an opportunity to make sure we aren't burning candles or using hotplates and things like that; 2) by so doing they can justify charging us more for our accomodation. It's probably a combination of the two...), and so I can't be in there. I could just go to the kitchen on my floor, or the lounge downstairs, but there's no internet in the kitchen, and I never thought of going to the lounge until just now, so I come to the library. It's also a good chance for me to get books or articles that I've come across in my reading, so I'll keep doing it. Besides, it's probably good if I'm seen to be working at the school sometimes, rather than be working unseen in my room constantly. This way, I at least put out the image that I'm working hard, right?
Right.
------
I was very impressed by this. Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States of America, commenting on issues of race before the Justice Department. I think he's right, absolutely right. Only by communicating are we ever going to move beyond, but right now everyone is too scared to communicate, lest they be labelled a racist. I quote an email from a friend, in which he writes:
'Here's a preview of this new dialouge:
In an effort to confront the race issue, people have 'frank discussions' about race, say something offensive, and get labled racist. Problem remains/gets worse. Repeat.'
Yes, there is good reason to be cynical, and yes, that will probably happen a lot at first. But if no one is willing to take the risk, nothing will ever change, right?
Right.
------
Also, apparently I don't update on Tuesdays anymore, I just update when I feel like it. I think that'll be a better system, as then I won't have to throw dozens of pictures and interesting news stories at you at one time (the half dozen of you that read this, that is).
Oh, I just had a big yawn'n'stretch in the library, and this girl scrounging through the shelves around me gave me a funny look. As if she'd never seen anyone yawn'n'stretch before, or never done it herself. Hypocrite.
------
Next week is Mardi Gras, and Ash Wednesday. Best come up with something to give up, Catholics. And other traditions that do the same thing (Anglicans? Presbyterians? I never know which Protestants keep the same traditions as the Catholics).
------
Also, I feel the need to point out that I was working hard in the library today, reading through a book. But the author summarized his points in the opening paragraphs of each chapter, and as all I needed was to summarize his points, I didn't have to keep reading. So thank you, Atsuhiro Asano.
-stephen
Yes, there is good reason to be cynical, and yes, that will probably happen a lot at first. But if no one is willing to take the risk, nothing will ever change, right?
Right.
------
Also, apparently I don't update on Tuesdays anymore, I just update when I feel like it. I think that'll be a better system, as then I won't have to throw dozens of pictures and interesting news stories at you at one time (the half dozen of you that read this, that is).
Oh, I just had a big yawn'n'stretch in the library, and this girl scrounging through the shelves around me gave me a funny look. As if she'd never seen anyone yawn'n'stretch before, or never done it herself. Hypocrite.
------
Next week is Mardi Gras, and Ash Wednesday. Best come up with something to give up, Catholics. And other traditions that do the same thing (Anglicans? Presbyterians? I never know which Protestants keep the same traditions as the Catholics).
------
Also, I feel the need to point out that I was working hard in the library today, reading through a book. But the author summarized his points in the opening paragraphs of each chapter, and as all I needed was to summarize his points, I didn't have to keep reading. So thank you, Atsuhiro Asano.
-stephen
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